


Running My Fingers Through Your Hair

by rebelmeg



Series: Rebelmeg's Ladies of Marvel Bingo Fills 2019 [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Adorable Morgan Stark (Marvel Cinematic Universe), Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Awesome Pepper Potts, F/M, First Kiss, Fluff and Humor, Friends to Lovers, Hair Washing, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Iron Family, Missing Scene, Pepper cares so much, Tony Stark Has A Heart, Tony Stark Needs a Hug, Unhealthy Coping Mechanisms, playing with hair
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-22
Updated: 2020-06-22
Packaged: 2021-03-03 22:14:46
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,842
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24852925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/rebelmeg/pseuds/rebelmeg
Summary: 5 times Pepper played with Tony's hair + 1 time he played with hers.That's it, that's the fic.
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark
Series: Rebelmeg's Ladies of Marvel Bingo Fills 2019 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1634662
Comments: 23
Kudos: 108
Collections: Ladies of Marvel Bingo 2019





	Running My Fingers Through Your Hair

**Author's Note:**

  * For [remreader](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remreader/gifts).



> This fic is for two things! My Ladies of Marvel Bingo square O5 - bubbles, and for Pepperony Week - Day 2: favorite affectionate moment
> 
> I had TWO wonderful betas, Faustess and KrisKat38!

_2006 - For Comfort_

Pepper had known Tony was drunk, had heard it clearly when he’d called her in the middle of the night and told her he needed to reschedule a meeting.

She debated with herself the entire drive over to the cliff-side mansion, rationalizing back and forth that he’d be fine on his own, but then, what if he wasn’t?

She got to the workshop just as he was getting up out of his chair at the bank of computers, several projects displayed on the screens. His back was to her as he poured the last measure of scotch out of a crystal decanter and into a squat glass, then tossed it back like it was water. He swayed for a moment, one hand shooting out to grip the back of the chair for balance, and then he heard the hiss of the door opening behind him.

He turned around too fast, and Pepper knew he was going to fall before he did. She ran to his side, partially catching him on the way down. They both landed on the floor, not as gently as she would have preferred, but good enough.

“Hey, Miss Potts. Fancy meeting you here.” Tony’s eyes were drooping as he leaned against her, the normal professional distance that they both carefully maintained completely forgotten now. He was clearly so alcohol-soaked that even that last inhibition had been dropped. Pepper was so worried she just braced herself against his weight, and let his head sink down onto her lap. She had no idea what to say.

“’m sorry, Pep,” he murmured in response to her silence, sighing a little as his limbs fell at odd angles. Her breath caught at the nickname, one she hadn’t heard before but that he was clearly used to thinking to himself. “You d’serve better th’n me ‘n my mess.”

“Oh, Tony,” she whispered, swallowing hard around the lump in her throat. Without thinking about it, she lifted her hand to his head where it laid heavy on her thigh, and carefully drew her fingers through the slightly grimy locks. “Why do you do this to yourself?”

There was a quiet mutter, unintelligible to her ears, and then Tony’s body went limp as he fell unconscious.

Shaking with suppressed sobs of fear and worry, blinking to clear the tears from her eyes, Pepper didn’t try to move. She just sat there on the floor of the workshop, her boss passed out in her lap, and didn’t pause in the smooth, even strokes that her hand made going over his tangled dark hair.

* * *

_2008 - For Business_

It was thirty seconds to the start of the press conference announcing the release of some brand new SI military tech, the Freedom line. Standing up and buttoning the front of his suit jacket, Tony gave his head a little shake, his way of making sure his hair didn’t look too meticulously styled. He turned towards Pepper as he smoothed the jacket material and adjusted his cuffs, raising his eyebrows, doing another shake to communicate what he wanted without words.

She was already reaching up to fix a few errant locks and finger-comb one or two more, making him presentable. It was just part of their routine now, before Tony had to make a public appearance. Apply makeup to any dark circles or workshop bruises, check the back of his collar and the line of his jacket’s shoulders, straighten his pocket square, check for lint, and fix his hair. 

“You’re good,” Pepper said quietly, making one more adjustment to the blue and orange silk pocket square before nodding. “Go get ‘em, boss.”

He nodded as he touched his tie pin to make sure it was placed correctly, looking her in the eye with a quick half smile. “Many thanks, Miss Potts.”

“You’re welcome, Mr. Stark.”

* * *

_2010 - For Pleasure_

Pepper didn’t really notice she was doing it, she was distracted by so many other things. The adrenaline was still pumping through her after her brush with death, making her jumpy and nervous, and there were still faint sounds of explosions going off around the main staging area of the Expo. The wail of sirens added to the cacophony and to her anxiety, and none of that even covered the fact that she was _kissing Tony_.

And she was. Kissing him, feeling the way his goatee scratched lightly at her skin, how his lips almost felt like they were hugging hers. The metal gauntlet at her waist felt warm and unyielding, comforting somehow, and the smooth metal of the armor under her fingers felt all kinds of right.

Pulling back almost felt wrong, and Pepper couldn't help the smile that spread across her face as she looked at the man she, well, loved.

"Weird?" He suggested, tentatively, and she just shook her head, their words almost overlapping as they just kept leaning in.

"No, it's not weird."

"It's okay, right?"

"Yeah."

"'Kay. Run that by me again."

Her fingers had found their way into his hair again, just at the back of his neck, where it curled a little bit. She couldn’t remember how long she’d ached to play with those short locks of hair, to tease them with her fingertips. Probably as long as she’d wanted to kiss him.

Nothing had ever felt so right as that one perfect moment that Pepper Potts spent kissing Tony Stark on a rooftop, completely unaware of their audience of one.

* * *

_2012 - For Care_

“Threat is imminent, and I have to protect the one thing that I can’t live without. That’s you.”

_Oh, Tony…_

Pepper had seen him fall apart before, in a lot of different ways. Some of them were even really fun. This one, though, was the one she dreaded the most.

He continued, but she knew what he'd say before he said it. “And my suits, they’re, uh…”

“Machines.”

“They’re part of me.” He defended instantly, though without heat.

She couldn’t help the way her voice was threaded with sadness and disappointment. “A distraction.”

He conceded that point just as quickly as he'd defended himself a moment before. “Maybe.”

That was as close as he was going to get to admitting it. Which was… not okay, not really, but now that Tony had finally cracked open enough to let her in, Pepper knew this wasn’t the time to press.

She could see the way he was thinking, fidgeting, trying to figure out whether or not to close back up or not as she came closer. She ran her hands up his arms and shoulders, smiling at him in a knowing way, loving him so very much even as she worried just as much.

He gave in to her touch so easily, letting his head drop forward and rest against her chest. She held him there for a moment, sighing as he ran his hands up her back. This, the softness after the surrender… she wished they could hold on to this more often without having to work so hard for it.

Tony closed his eyes briefly when she carefully took off the headpiece, and she could feel the way his scalp relaxed under her hand. It wouldn’t surprise her if he had a headache from all that tension, but she was distracted from that thought by the way he was looking at her with such vulnerability.

He didn’t know how to let go. How to set boundaries for himself. That had never been something he was good at. But he would sometimes follow her lead if she set them herself.

“I’m gonna take a shower.”

“Okay.” 

Before she turned around, she caught the confusion on his face, and she paused in the doorway of the workshop, knowing she’d see those twin furrows of worry and stress between his eyebrows. “And you’re gonna join me.”

Yep, he relaxed again, one of his hands knocking into the rolling cart he was braced against. “Better.”

* * *

_2015 - For Luxury_

Tony noticed the second she came in the door, because of course he did. Pepper tried to hide her smile, pretending not to notice the way he was hyper-focused on her hands, telling him about her day when he asked distractedly.

They were nearly through dinner before she called him out on it, giving him a nice long time to ogle the acrylic nails she’d had done on her way home. She didn’t wear them often, they were quite annoying, to be honest, and it was difficult to type or use her phone with them on. But there were one or two things Tony _loved_ about Pepper wearing acrylic nails, and she was more than happy to indulge him from time to time. 

“See something you like?” she asked, setting down her fork and picking up her water goblet.

Tony blinked, looking from her hand to her face, and she loved that she could see the faint tinge of pink in his cheeks. “I always see something I like when I look at you.”

Leave it to Tony Stark to say something sweet and giggle-inducing when she was trying to enjoy his blush. “I’m not sure about the color this time. What do you think?”

She held out her hand, wiggling her fingers to show off the dark red polish on the nails, and just like that, Tony’s attention was diverted again.

“Come on,” she grinned as she stood up. “We’ll clean up later. Bathroom.”

His eyes were wide and shining with adulation as he looked up at her, then he practically left a puff of smoke behind him, he ran to the bathroom so fast. Pepper followed, chuckling fondly at her genius and shaking her head at the trail of clothes he left behind.

He was already in the shower when she got into the bathroom, doing a quick wash and rinse. He liked to be clean for this, said it made him feel good, and Pepper got the supplies together and set out on the counter next to the chair she’d had installed specifically for this particular activity.

“You are my very favorite fiancée and I’m never gonna let you forget it,” Tony announced as he all but bounced out of the shower, drying off quickly and wrapping the towel around his waist before settling into the reclining salon chair with a deep sigh.

“This makes it sound as if you’ve had previous fiancées to compare to. Anything you need to tell me?” Pepper made her voice sugar-sweet as she said it, teasing him as she took off her shirt, since it would only get wet anyway.

Tony made an appreciative sound and made grabby hands for her, skating his damp, calloused palms all over the skin she was showing. “Nope, just you, I don’t need to compare to know you’ll always be my favorite.”

“Well, aren’t you sweet. And jumping the gun, too. Sit back up. Gotta get the cape on you so you don’t get wet.”

Pouting, Tony reluctantly sat up, looking exactly like a petulant child with a goatee as he impatiently waited for her to unfold the hairdressers cape and get it situated over his shoulders. Pepper took her time with the Velcro strap, making the process far more fiddly than it needed to be, and he knew what she was doing.

“Pepperrrrr,” he finally whined, batting at her hands. “Stop torturing me. My scalp has been tingling since you walked through the door.”

She couldn’t help but chuckle, knowing that on the outside, this hyper-focus on her hands when she got the acrylic nails could certainly look kinky, especially the way he always watched her with fascination and anticipation. He’d made Rhodey feel distinctly uncomfortable once, the poor guy had made the understandable assumption that Pepper used those nails in the bedroom, and that was why Tony was so obsessed (not to say that she _didn’t_ have a trick or two that she used them for in the bedroom). It had been hilarious, seeing the confusion and relief when Tony had explained that he was excited about the nails because it meant Pepper was going to wash his hair.

It had started after Afghanistan, within a few days of Tony finally coming home. Pepper had noticed that his hair was looking limp and unkempt, mentioned it offhand, and Tony had blurted out the truth despite himself. He hadn’t been able to wash it since he got home, because he couldn’t stand water being in his face. He started to panic every time he tried.

Pepper had been horrified, once she understood why, and she’d been near tears when she offered to wash his hair for him, desperate to do something, _anything_ to help him.

If it hadn’t been driving him so crazy, Tony would have said no, and that would have been that. But his hair was gross and he hated it, so Pepper had washed his hair in the kitchen sink, using the little sprayer hose to wash out the suds while Tony kept a rolled towel around his hairline to keep the water out of his face. It had been messy, water had gotten everywhere _but_ his face, and both of them ended up with wet clothes. But Tony had looked at her as he ran a hand through his damp, clean hair, a fragile expression of gratitude and vulnerability on his face. 

Pepper had hugged him for the very first time, quick and hard, then gathered up the wet towels and all but ran out of the kitchen. Much later, once they’d gotten together, Tony had told her how much it had helped. Not only that she hadn’t questioned his adversity to having water in his face, but that she had been able to touch his hair without hurting him, after three months of quite the opposite.

She turned the memory over in her head now as she leaned over to start the water in the specially made sink. Tony had designed the whole setup, the sink and the chair and the plumbing that went into it that allowed him to control the water temperature with the buttons on the chair’s armrests. He wanted it hot today, and steam was already starting to rise as Pepper used the sprayer hose to get all of his hair wet again, grinning at the way he was practically purring already.

She eased him into it, partially to drive him crazy, making sure not to use her nails as she spread the shampoo into his hair and worked it into a bubbly lather. She massaged over his scalp, rubbing at all the places that she knew he kept tension, and even though this wasn’t his favorite part, he still hummed and sighed deeply, clearly enjoying it. He loved having his hair played with. 

She washed out the shampoo suds, taking rather longer than necessary running her fingers through his wet locks, and it was only when he started fidgeting with impatience that she gave in. Pouring a generous amount of thick conditioner into her hand, Pepper gave it a cursory swipe through his hair, and then got down to business.

Using exactly the amount of pressure Tony loved, she used her nails as she started really working the conditioner into his hair. She scratched over every inch of his head, watching his entire body go utterly gooey, and he moaned like he was the star of a porno.

It was Tony’s favorite thing, having Pepper wash his hair like this with the acrylic nails. He’d even composed a literal sonnet once, an ode to the magnificence of her hair-washing skill. He loved the way it managed to get all the itches he hadn’t even known he had, the pleasure/pain of it so amazing that it was a guaranteed stress relief. It was the most G-rated kink he had.

“Pepper,” he groaned, bringing another smile to her face with the way he was practically slurring, “I love you so much.”

“I know, honey. I love you too.”

She spent rather longer than was necessary at it, massaging the conditioner into his hair until it thickly coated every strand, and she knew that every bit of his scalp was tingling and warm. The big happy-hormone dump didn’t hurt either, she could see the way that all the tension Tony kept in his muscles had melted away. He was limp as a kitten and smiling beatifically with his eyes closed, just luxuriating in what she was doing to him.

Pepper checked the temperature of the water before rinsing his hair, then she stood back and admired her handiwork, enjoying the way Tony was absolutely boneless in the padded chair.

“You done for tonight, baby?” 

Sometimes, when she wanted to spoil her genius more, she’d get out the shaving kit with the straight razor. Usually Tony handled it all himself, using the custom-made electric detail razors to maintain his facial hair to the standards he had for himself. But he loved it when Pepper took a turn almost as much as he loved having his hair washed. She did the whole nine yards, from the hot towel on his face to the meticulously applied shaving foam, and more than once he’d commented that it was just really hot to see her sharpen the razor on the leather strap in the kit.

It was another thing that she had done for him from time to time before they got together. Whenever he was having a particularly bad night, or if he was drunk and had to make an appearance at some event or another, Pepper could give him a shave.

“Mmm.” Tony hummed in a sleepy kind of way, his eyes still closed. “Not tonight. I’ll fall asleep.”

Smiling to herself, Pepper got one of the towels from the stack and got to work drying his hair, dabbing water droplets off his face and scrubbing her nails gently all over his scalp again. Tony groaned, practically purring, and he looked drunk by the time he finally sat up for her to take off the cape, eyes glazed over and half-lidded.

“You’re my favorite person ever.” 

She couldn’t help it, she had to kiss him. This was one of her favorite versions of her Tony; when he looked sweet like this, putty in her hands with an adoring expression on his face.

Cupping her hand under his jaw and laying a long, slow kiss on his lips, Pepper smiled into his happy sigh. “Come on. Bed.”

He made an interested noise as he let her haul him up, wrapping an arm around her waist and following her lead into the bedroom. He made more of the same kind of noises as she took the towel off his waist, keeping him upright and giggling with tickling fingers on his ribs, holding onto his hips, looping his arms over her shoulders while she got undressed herself.

“Scandalous,” Tony murmured, nearly slurring once she was done and kicking her clothes in the direction of the laundry hamper, his eyes still half-closed. “What _will_ you do with me?”

“Put you to bed and watch you sleep.” Pepper replied pertly, tipping him back onto the mattress. He bounced a few times, then wiggled around until he found his pillow and snuggled right in.

“But you’re all naked and you’ve got nails. Should take advantage of it,” he mumbled into his pillow

“Don’t worry, honey,” she whispered as she tugged the covers up and over him before sliding in on her side, cuddling in close. “They’ll still be here in the morning. You can appreciate all the kinky things we can do with them then.”

“Promise?” Tony sounded just on the brink of sleep, his lips barely moving. 

Pepper ran her nails gently through his hair, combing out the damp strands and smiling to herself as her fiancé all but melted into a puddle. “Promise.”

He hummed out a little sigh, too far gone to have really heard her, and Pepper closed her eyes, running her fingers through his hair until the soothing motion lulled her to sleep.

* * *

_2020 - For Fondness_

A warm weight depressed the mattress and long hair tickled Tony’s cheek as he laid stretched out on his and Pepper's bed, with a sleeping Morgan curled up in the crook of his arm. He smiled up at his wife, wrinkling his nose as she kissed the tip of it. “Oh, hey, I like this.”

Pepper smiled as she curled up next to him, both of them the wrong way around on the bed so Tony could prop up his wrapped ankle on his pillows. He’d sprained it running after Gerald yesterday and Dr. Pepper (she grinned and rolled her eyes every time he called her that) had insisted he rest for a couple days to let it heal.

“Poor thing,” Pepper murmured, glancing at their sleeping daughter. “Teething is really not being kind to her.”

“Not at all, no. It’s those molars up top again.” Tony rubbed his thumb gently over Morgan’s arm and pressed a kiss to Pepper’s head. “Probably shouldn’t let her sleep too long, or she’ll be up all night for a whole other reason.”

Pepper nodded, but didn’t show any sign of budging. “Yeah, in a minute. Feel like we’ve been running around like crazy these last few days, I’ve hardly seen you.”

“Well, you feel free to cuddle to your heart’s content, honey. I’m certainly not complaining.”

Golden-orange sunlight came in through the cracks in the wooden blinds over the bedroom window, illuminating dancing dust motes in the air. Morgan sighed deeply in her sleep and rolled over, pressed snugly to her Daddy’s side while his fingertips played with her soft, downy hair. Pepper breathed slower and more evenly as Tony’s hand smoothed over her long strawberry-blonde locks.

And five minutes later, all three of them were sound asleep.

* * *

Tony woke up a few hours later, both his hands still buried in soft, silky hair. It was dark outside, so clearly their little nap had run right into bedtime. Pepper was still cuddled up under his right arm, and his fingers were tangled into her hair. Morgan was still tucked up against his other side, and her small head was cradled between his chest and the palm of his other hand.

“I think I became a pillow.” Tony murmured into the dark, barely above a whisper, a smile curving up the corners of his mouth. He couldn’t see the clock from where he was, but his eyes were heavy anyway. He was the father of a one-year-old, he was always tired. It couldn’t hurt, to go back to sleep.

With a deep sigh, he shifted his arms and legs a little, getting more comfortable. Then he slowly stroked his hands over both his girls’ heads again, his fingertips playing with the ends of their pretty hair, dark brown and light red. The slow movements got slower and slower as he drifted back to sleep, a little smile still playing on his face.


End file.
